I research, write and teach about hip-hop

I research, write and teach about hip-hop

Bio/Contact

"The best teachers are like hip-hop producers; study the classics, select the best parts, then add some new flavor" -Dr. Chris Emdin

Kyesha Jennings is an English Lecturer at NC State University where she teaches First Year Writing. Her research focuses on African American Literature and the integration of Hip-Hop and Popular Culture texts. Her co-authored article, “Teaching in the Mix: Turntablism, DJ Aesthetics, and African American Literature” hones in on the aesthetics and sensibilities of hip-hop scholarship by examining how goal-oriented and compositional techniques of DJs was used to design her Survey of African American Literature course. Kyesha is currently completing her PhD at Indiana University of Pennsylvania studying English Literature and Criticism where she focuses specifically on the ways in which hip-hop is a form of protest literature. In December of 2017 she was featured on NPR’s The State of Things where she reviewed her North Carolina’s hip-hop scene in a round table discussion. She recently contributed to the St. James Encyclopedia of Hip Hop Culture (2018) and often contributes hip-hop calendar blurbs to the Indy Week, a weekly publication that services the Raleigh-Durham area. Kyesha is a sought-after speaker and has been an invited guest at Virginia Tech and UNC Chapel Hill University.